The Atlantic slave trade which began in the 15th century under the Spanish and

continued until its subsequent end in the 19th century became notorious as one of the

most profitable branches of trade in which each European country had sought to

snatch a profitable share for itself. For e.g. according to S. U. Abramova “Great

Britain, Holland and France were the leading slave – trading powers of the

time….even Denmark and Sweden built forts on the western coast of Africa to part

take in the slave trade.1

Africans had become the victims of the largest, most inhumane and barbaric

form of genocide ever known to mankind. According to Karl Marx “…Africa turned

into a warren for the commercial hunting of black-skins…” 2With the transport of

Africans across the Atlantic to enslavement in the New World many were brutally

murdered and tortured

However in an attempt to dignify this gross

abomination, its perpetrators of such atrocious crimes

sought to legitimize their actions by calling it a ‘trade’;

but arguably this activity “…was no trade, but a form of

exchange that was so un-equal as to be tantamount to

worse than robbery.” 3

What is trade? Trade can be defined as the voluntary exchange of one item for

another, one person or firm providing an item i.e. (good, service, asset, etc.) to

another person or firm, with the latter providing a different item to the first in return,

as payment. This transaction may take place between two parties (bilateral trade) or

amongst more than two parties (multilateral trade). In its original form trade

1 UNESCO. The African Slave Trade from the 15 th to the 19 th Century (1979) pp.18-192 DU BOIS, W.EB. The World and Africa (International Publishers NY, 1981) p.563 <http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php>

necessarily used barter and the exchange of commodities which recognized the equal

value desirable to both parties.4

Prior to the arrival of the Europeans the trade in slaves and slave markets was

not unknown to Sub-Saharan African societies. It was part of life in various kingdoms

as well as formed the social structures throughout history. Slavery in Africa was

viewed as servitude for repayment of debt, punishment for crime committed and

prisoners of war among tribes. Although this internal trade throughout its period was

in the millions, slaves consisted of just a small percentage of the population.5

This exchange was quite valuable since it was beneficial to all parties in that it

aided in the development of the societies involved. Slaves were usually sold for salt,

horses and luxury cloths. In return they would be used as servants for domestic

purposes in that an equal or greater number of females than males were taken, who

were often employed as chambermaids to women of harems; aided in strengthen

armies and it was also not uncommon to turn male slaves into eunuchs.6

Never before had the hunt for slaves been so systematic

nor had it been carried on solely for the sake of procuring

slaves. The Atlantic slave trade was considered by

European tradesmen as respectable as any branch of

trade, in that many boosted of their success in trading in

‘live merchandise’. For e.g. a fortunate voyage made a profit of £8,000, even a poor

cargo would make £5,000 and within a year a clear profit of £300,000.7 Apprised of

the golden earnings the shareholders had made from this first slaving voyage, even

Queen Elizabeth herself invested capital.4 Trade. Wikipedia <http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade >5 From the Ancient Sahara and Americas and Into the New World <http://bosp.kcc.hawaii.edu/Spectrums/Spectrum2001/slaves.html>6 African slave trade. Wikipedia <http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_slave_trade.html> 7 DU BOIS, W.EB. The World and Africa (International Publishers NY, 1981) p.55

Although there is no substantial data on the accurate number of slaves

supplied to the New World several historians based on their findings have given

substantial estimates. According to Curtin’s work, one of the most reliable scientific

data upon the slave trade claimed that from Senegal to Angola states sprung up or

were recreated from old states. Here it is estimated that they supplied approximately 8

million of black to be transported across the ocean;8 Whilst Hugh Thomas “The Slave

Trade: The History of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1440-1870” claimed that the number

of Africans transported across the Atlantic were at approximately 11 million.

On the other hand, as mention above this traffic in human beings was not

necessarily a trade. This unfriendly activity was imposed upon African societies by

means of military terror. It was either they complied or face the wrought of the

European fire power. The existence of the many forts and castles, European

monuments to war, self defence, and plunder, forming a chain link across the West

African Coast, was evidence of their reign

of violent military might. For e.g. Many

African societies were drawn into the slave

system under duress; (Cape Coast Castle,

Gold Coast, (Ghana) 1948.)

As a result European decision-making power was exercised in selecting what

Africans should export- in accordance with European needs. In many instances

African people were simply the victims since the law i.e. European law recognized

them only as transportable merchandise. In addition the small size of African states

and the numerous political divisions also made it so much easier for Europe to play a

8 CURTIN, P. The Atlantic Slave Trade: A Census (University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, 1969)

dominant role. According to Rodney “obviously if Europe could tell Africans what to

export, that was an expression of European power”.9

However, the goods intended for barter by European tradesmen ranged from

fire-arms, gun-lifts and gunpowder to glass beads, various metal ware, rum and cloth.

In return the African people exported the permanent wealth of gold and the valuable

labour of slaves. In hindsight, this arguably was an unequal exchange, but the same

sort of thing is still going on today. The countries of the North stop at nothing to

convince African heads of state to import white elephants in exchange for mediocre

personal profit.

According to Hennessy the European

tradesmen peddling their wares with deftness

and contempt had thereby created an artificial

market in which they supplied cheap

brassware and old clothes, faulty iron-bars,

cottons gewgaw and aged flintlocks that

frequently blew up on use. As a result Africans sold them their slaves, gold and ivory,

in return for trash. These items had no real value or assisted in the development of the

society.10 For e.g. European tradesmen unloaded on the African continent goods

which had become un-saleable in Europe in that lots of odds and ends found

guaranteed markets in Africa.11

In addition, Hugh Thomas also claims that gunpowder was often fraudulently

weighed by simple techniques such as adding a false head to the keg,; linen and cotton

cloths were often opened and two or three yards, according to the length of the piece, 9 RODNEY, W. How Europe underdeveloped Africa (Howard Univ. Press, Washington, D.C. 1982) p.77 10 HENNESSY, J. Sins of the Fathers, A Study of the Atlantic Slave Traders 1441-1807 (Ebenezer Baylis and Son Limited, Great Britain 1967) pp. 174-17511 RODNEY, W. How Europe underdeveloped Africa (Howard Univ. Press, Washington, D.C. 1982)p.77

they would cut off from out of the middle, where the fraud might not be noticed until

the cloth was unfolded; also a piece of wood might be placed inside to make up the

weight.12

Although the Europeans on a whole didn’t invade the continent, in attempt to

secure more slaves as possible from West Africa involuntarily, they compelled the

Africans to wage wars against other neighbouring states that otherwise would not

have been waged. For e.g. Davidson claims during the 18th century, Birmingham

alone was exporting some 10,000 muskets annually to West Africa

Here they used the Machiavellian policy of supplying musket to both sides of

the conflict as well as hardened the existing internal class divisions and created new

ones. Even inside a given community a ruler might be tempted to exploit his own

subjects and capture them for sale.13 For e.g. According to Rodney the small territory

that the Portuguese later claimed as “Guinea-Bissau”, there were more than a dozen

ethnic groups. It was so easy to set one off against another that Europeans called it a

‘slave trader’s paradise’.14

Another feature of this un-equal trade was that these European tradesmen

sought to involuntary capture slaves via kidnapping. According to Equiano a slave

from a region in Gambia and one of the very few who lived to describe his

experienced stated that “….One day, when all our people were gone out to their works as

usual, and only I and my dear sister were left to mind the house, two men and a woman got

over our walls, and in a moment seized us both; and, without giving us time to cry out, or

make resistance, they stopped our mouths, and ran off with us into the nearest wood”15

12 THOMAS, H. The slave trade: the history of the Atlantic slave trade ( Simon and Schuster, NY, 1997) p.39313 THORNTON, J. Africa and Africans in the making of the New World (Cambridge Univ. Press, NY 1992) p.9814 RODNEY, W. How Europe underdeveloped Africa (Howard Univ. Press, Washington, D.C. 1982) p.79 15 The Atlantic slave system <http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USASafrica.htm>

On the other hand, Europeans had traditionally viewed the African as less than

an equal human being, since blackness was a defining. Black was dirt, sinful, impure

whereas white meant beauty, virtue, and cleanliness. By European racist code and

conduct these Africans were barbaric by nature and, were not considered worthy of

having rights.

Although they were regarded as “chattels” or in other words as mere private

property, these commodities were harshly treated on board the ships and storage on

the coast in that they received no special care or attention. For e.g. according to

Hennessy animal would ever been treated like that. Thereby this challenges the idea

of legitimizing there activity as a “trade”, since the inhumane conditions surrounding

the delivery of this entire process was quite alarming. 16

Prior to the journey across the Atlantic to the

New World, these human merchandises were placed

into abominable conditions of dungeon

fortresses in the slave castles along the

coast, awaiting the arrival of the slave ships. Here they were kept

people in dark, dirty rooms with little to eat or drink and no room to

move and also at the barracoons they were chained and confined together by their

hands, ankles and sometimes their necks 17

Likewise upon this long and treacherous journey which has become known as

the ‘Middle Passage’, on board the ships these slaves suffered seriously from the

conditions since it’s estimated that many as 20% died while crossing the Atlantic

Ocean.

16 UNESCO The African Slave Trade from the 15 th to the 19 th Century (1979) p.3517 THOMAS, H. The slave trade: the history of the Atlantic slave trade ( Simon and Schuster, NY, 1997) pp.390-392

According to Munford these slavers transported approximately

400 to 500 slaves for a period of three to four months. Most ships,

especially those of the later 18th century, which were "tight

packers", slaves whether sick or dying were often kept in chains

and left to lie on their backs in the dark in spaces smaller than that

of a grave, or in some cases stacked spoon-fashion on top of one another throughout

the endless journey. I 18

Portholes when kept shut in rough weather,

transformed the hold into ‘an airless hell’. But according

to Hennessy excessive heat was not the only thing that

rendered their situation intolerable. The deck that is the

floor of their rooms, was so covered with the blood and

mucous which had proceeded from them in consequence

of the flux, that it resembled a slaughter-house. 19

In attempt to keep the slaves in acceptable physical condition if they were to

be sold at high prices the captain allowed the slaves on deck, in order to give them

exercise. Still shackled together the men were forced to jump up and down until often

these abrasive chains smashing and crashing against one another tore the flesh of their

ankles. 20

Thereby the horror of middle passage represents the paramount of human

mistreatment and suffering. This dreadful so –called ‘trade’ also represents Africans

18 MUNFORD, C. The Black Ordeal of Slavery and Slave Trading in the French West Indies 1625-

1715 Vol. II (Edwin Mellen Press Ltd, NY 1991) pp.298 - 29919 HENNESSY, J. Sins of the Fathers, A Study of the Atlantic Slave Traders 1441-1807 (Ebenezer Baylis and Son Limited, Great Britain 1967) pp. 174-175

20 MUNFORD, C. The Black Ordeal of Slavery and Slave Trading in the French West Indies 1625-

1715 Vol. II (Edwin Mellen Press Ltd, NY 1991)p.305

having all their humanity being stripped away and contributing to the most vicious

genocide known to the world.

In conclusion, the Atlantic slave trade was not necessarily a trade since the

traffic in human beings were carried out in the inhumane conditions known to

mankind as well as it required both parties involved i.e. the European and more so the

Africans to voluntarily comply with the transactions and most often the value of the

goods exchanged were of un-equal weighting.